K (letter)
K, k is a letter of the Latin alphabet. It is the eleventh letter of most variants, being placed after J and before L, as is the case for instance in the English alphabet. Its English name is pronounced [ˈkeɪ], like the girl's name Kay. It is derived from the Greek letter kappa (Κ, κ).
Use in English
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | |
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| Common misspellings |
k has the sound of c in cát or q in quîte. Examples (the accents show stress and pronunciation: see English spellings): Ként, kéttle, kítsch, loòk, tâke, toòk, lâke, báck, dóck, bríck, åwkward (*åwquərd), hácker.
c is more common for this sound at the beginning of a word, but only before back vowels a, o and u: cátch, cóld, cúp, as its sound turns into an s before front vowels: cíty, cêreal food = sêrial series. The k sound can also be written ch as in chŏrd, álchemy, schoôner.
At the end of a word, k is usual after a double or long vowel, and after l, n and r: pêak, mâke, sínk, boòk, tánk, thánk, àrk, bàrk, sínk, mínk, mílk, tålk, jërk, quïrk, wörk, përk, lürk, Türk, besërk.
The l in fôlk is silent (as it is also in hālf and cālf).
Final -ke appears in pôke, tâke, bâke, sâke, lâke, câke, lîke, blôke, pôke, wâke, râke, and forms many abbreviations: nûke (abbreviation of nûclear), bîke (of bîcycle), Jâke (of Jâcob).
Also: brâke car = breâk broken; jûkebox.
After c, k merely reinforces the hard c sound and the preceding short vowel: clóck (*clók, *clóc), lúck, súck, néck, báck, thíck, blóck wood (= blóc nations), tíck clock (= tíc spasm, which has no k because it is, like blóc, from French), tíckle, crícket, wícket, tícket, níckel, ríckety, búcket. And so k is added to the ending -ic before suffixes -ing and -ed: politícking, tráfficking, frólicked, pánicked.
Thus the ck combination does not occur after long vowels - one does not see -êeck, -oôck, -orck, -àrck etc.
And similarly, final k on its own is rare, and imported-looking, after a single vowel: trék, flák, wók.
c or ck are generally used instead of k when forming clusters, with the exception of wóks etc. and of kl as in boòklet, especially in nkl (nk is pronounced -ngk-): sínk, thínk, tánk, ánkle (cf. úncle), wínkle, héckle, fréckle, ínkling, tínkle, tínkling, chúckle.
Silent k occurs initially before n: knôw acquaint, understand (= nô negative), kneŵ acquainted (= neŵ fresh), knôwn (cf. nòne), knîght Sir (= nîght dark), knít, knáck, knóck, knéll, knóll, knâve cad (= nâve church).
kh has the sound of ch in Scottish lóch in words from Arabic, Urdu &c. - although many people merely pronounce it k: Khàn (*Kàn).
kk is very rare. It occurs in púkka and Dékker (= Décker, a more common spelling) and accidentally, with an extended k sound, in boòkkeeper.
Scientific uses
- k prefix: kilo, 1000 in normal usage, 1024 in computing
- K: kelvin, scientific unit of temperature
- K: kaon, a family of mesons